Man admits murdering teenage girlfriend who flew from Canada to UK to visit him after they met online

A man has admitted murdering a Canadian teenager he met online after she flew to the UK to be with him.

Jack Sepple, 23, stabbed Ashley Wadsworth, 19, to death after she visited him.

She was found unresponsive at a property in Tennyson Road, Chelmsford on February 1, 2022.

An inquest hearing was told that she died of “stab wounds to the chest”.

Sepple was arrested at the scene and later charged with Miss Wadsworth’s murder.

He admitted the charge at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex on September 7.

Ms Wadsworth had travelled from Vernon in British Columbia on a six-month tourist visa.

Her great aunt Tova Wadsworth said that she was on the “trip of a lifetime” after arriving in the UK in November last year.

In a brief hearing on Wednesday, Sepple’s lawyer said a psychiatrist had indicated that the defendant was fit to plead.

The court clerk read the single charge of murder and Sepple, standing in the secure dock in a long white sleeved top and with tattoos on his face and hand, replied: “I’m guilty.”

Judge Christopher Morgan told Sepple: “By your plea of guilty to murder there’s only one sentence that can be passed and that’s a life sentence.”

He remanded the defendant in custody until a date to be fixed administratively when he will be sentenced.